Two men who attacked and shot a Home Gardens resident were bound for state prison Tuesday to serve sentences that, between them, total nearly 30 years behind bars.
Alexander Lopez, 38, and Juan Manuel Lopez Jr., 42, both of Corona, reached plea agreements with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office on Monday. Alex Lopez admitted an attempted murder count and a sentence-enhancing allegation of being armed during a felony, while Juan Lopez admitted attempted murder and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a firearm to perpetrate a crime.
In the latter case, prosecutors dropped a sentence-enhancing allegation of inflicting great bodily injury, and in Alex Lopez’s case, they dropped a charge of being a felon in possession of a gun.
During the hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Superior Court Judge Gail O’Rane certified the terms of the plea deals and imposed a 10-year prison term on Alex Lopez, and a 19-year term on Juan Lopez.
It was never established in court records that the two men are related.
According to Sgt. Patrick Montalvo of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, shortly after 5 a.m. last May 4, the pair were involved in an unspecified dispute with a Home Gardens man, whose identity was not disclosed, in the 3900 block of South Temescal Street, near Estelle Street.
There was a physical altercation, culminating in Juan Lopez pulling a handgun and shooting the victim, Montalvo said.
He said the defendants immediately fled. Deputies reached the location minutes later and found the victim suffering a gunshot wound that did not appear life-threatening, the sergeant said.
The victim was taken to a Riverside hospital, where he received treatment before being released to recover at home.
Montalvo said detectives quickly identified the defendants as the assailants. Alex Lopez was located the following day and taken into custody without incident on North McKinley Street in Corona.
Juan Lopez walked into the sheriff’s Lake Mathews station on Latitude Way near Corona on the morning of May 7 and was arrested.
The defendants had documented prior felony convictions in another jurisdiction that weren’t listed in court documents.